Two attacks on Corrections staff since Minister toured the facility last week.
A staff member at the Okanagan Correctional Centre near Oliver is recovering at home after being violently assaulted by an inmate on Tuesday.
The male officer was attacked in a living unit where he was sucker-punched from behind and knocked to the ground, before being punched several more times.
“This would be characterized as a very violent and vicious assault,” Dean Purdy said, vice president of Corrections and Sheriffs Services section (BCGEU). Two other officers intervenef when the incident took place.
He said often there is only one officer working at a time in a living unit, but another officer was there and was being shadowed by a new recruit. The OCC will be pursuing criminal charges as a result of the incident, according to Purdy.
BC Corrections confirmed the incident and said 37 inmates were in the living unit at the time, also noting there is a “zero-tolerance policy on violence” and that the safety of staff inmates is their top priority.
Purdy said an officer was attacked on Saturday in a segregation unit at the facility, and said the officer sustained minor injuries but was able to defend himself until back-up came.
On Friday that Minister of Public Safety Mike Farnworth visited the jail, and acknowledged violence that has occurred there.
Source: Files from Castanet